A right pig's ear

Following on from Lea's last post, this is how bad things have got for pig farmers. I don't know if you've seen the above poster recently, or even been compelled to visit their site pigsareworthit.com, but the situation these guys are in is awful. Many of the farmers have been struggling on because the farm is their inheritance. Their great grandfather started pig farming over a century ago and if they quit they will be letting several generations down. But how can they continue when they're losing money on every pig they sell?

The farmers are in this situation because the price of grain has more than doubled in the past year. And yet the supermarkets are keeping the pressure on the farmers to keep prices down while they still make a healthy margin.

I don't see how this situation can continue. Are we going to lose our agricultural industry in the same way as we lost manufacturing? And what can we do about it? Is this our government's responsibility or do we need a different approach?